Small MPU – Page 1659
-
News
Franchise sells eight to Japan's Artport
ElieSamaha's Franchise Pictures is in aggressive form at the American Film Marketthis year, having already closed an eight-picture deal with Artport in Japan thatSamaha says is worth in excess of $9m.Amongthe titles to which Artport picked up rights are David Mamet's new picture Spartan, which stars Val Kilmerand William H ...
-
News
Artisan enters Ellroy's Dark Places
ArtisanEntertainment has closed on its acquisition of North American distributionrights to My Dark Places, the film of James Ellroy's autobiographical novel, in a deal struck with Myriad Pictures. Thefilm is to be directed by Robert Greenwald and star David Duchovny as Ellroy,who finds himself embroiled in the investigation of his ...
-
News
Israel's Broken Wings takes flight at AFM
UK-basedsales agent Pathe International has sold Nir Bergman's darkly comic Israelidrama Broken Wingsto Optimum Releasing for the UK, Diaphana for France and to Cine Video Y TV forMexico in deals finalised at the American Film Market.On the backof the film's outing in Berlin, where it went to Sony Pictures Classics ...
-
News
Arclight's Twins Effect secures multiple berths
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment has picked up North American and Latin American rights in all media on The Twins Effect, the made-in-Hong Kong martial arts vampire picture sold by sales newcomer Arclight Films.The Twins Effect is directed by Dante Lam and features Hong Kong teen singing sensations Charlene Choi and ...
-
News
Theron, Townsend put heads in Duigan's Clouds
Reallife couple Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend have joined Penelope Cruz andThomas Kretschmann in the cast of John Duigan's next film Head In The Clouds which Gary Hamilton'sArclight Films is representing for worldwide sales. NataliePortman was originally attached to star in the lead role with Cruz, but Theronhas taken her ...
-
Reviews
Herod's Law
Dir: Luis Estrada. Mexico. 1999. 120 mins.Prod Co: Bandidos Films, Imcine. Prod: Luis Estrada. Exec prod: Sandra Solares. Scr: Luis Estrada, Jaime Sampietro, Fernando Leon, Vicente Lenero. DoP: Norman Christianson. Prod des: Ana Solares, Salvador Parra. Ed: Luis Estrada. Mus: Santiago Ojeda. Main cast: Damian Alcazar, Pedro Armendariz, Leticia Huijara, ...
-
News
Helkon throws money behind zombie shocker
UK distributor Helkon SK has picked up Boll KG'szombie feature House Of The Dead.The film, which had already been sold France and Spainbefore the American Film Market this week, has, as part of the Helkonacquisition package, an aggressive P&A commitment of EUR(Eu)1.5million. The sale was made with sales agent Interactive ...
-
News
More spanking sales business for Secretary
Lions Gate Internationalhas closed two of last unsold territories on Steven Shainberg'ssado-masochistic relationship drama Secretary, selling the Sundance prize-winning film to ArsenalFilmverleih in Germany and Manga Films in Spain.StarringJames Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal, in the role that earned her a Golden Globenomination this year for best actress in a comedy ...
-
News
Entertainment croons with Spacey's Darin biopic
Leading UK distributor Entertainment Film Distributors(EFD) has emerged as the first international buyer for Kevin Spacey's BobbyDarin biopic, Beyond The Sea.The story of the legendary American crooner, which Spaceywill direct and star in, was unveiled yesterday at the AFM by sales agent MDPWorldwide. Spacey will produce with Arthur Friedman, Bernie ...
-
News
Father Amaro, Aro Tolbukhin lead Mexico's Oscar nominations
Foreign Oscar nominee The Crime Of Father Amaro (El Crimen Del Padre Amaro) and Spanish/Mexican co-production Aro Tolbukhin (In The Mind Of the Assassin) took 13 nominations apiece including Best Picture, Director and various acting categories for Mexico's Oscars, the 45th Ariel Awards. The nominees were announced yesterday (Feb ...
-
Reviews
The Principles Of Lust
Dir: Penny Woolcock. UK. 2003. 105mins.A dark moral tale with a steely eye for life's nastier side, The Principles Of Lust is a compelling and discomforting narrative with intellectual ambitions only too rare in UK cinema. Its visual rawness, distinctly European feel and provocative subject matter will no doubt make ...
-
Reviews
His Brother (Son Frere)
Dir: Patrice Chereau. France. 2003. 89mins.Patrice Chereau's bleak and uncompromising new film about terminal illness and fraternal love is one of the director's most austere and least commercial works to date. Intimacy, to be sure, was not an easy ride for audiences, but it had more focus and structure to ...
-
Reviews
National Security
Dir: Dennis Dugan. US. 2002. 90mins. The interracial cop comedy has not looked too healthy of late, but National Security suggests there may still be life in the genre. Well designed for its star and executive producer Martin Lawrence, the reliably funny, action-spiked buddy caper has taken $35m after four ...
-
News
Australia's Film Finance Corp greenlights two new films
Writer/director Chris Kennedy and his co-producer John Winter, the Sydney-based duo behind Doing Time For Patsy Cline, are to get a second outing together on A Man's Gotta Do. One of Australia's busiest and most versatile actors, John Howard, has been cast in the lead role of Eddy, who "has ...
-
News
Bollywood's most ambitious film unveiled
With a budget of $22m, Indian film Director Rajkumar Santoshi's version of Mahabharat is likely to be the most expensive Indian film ever made.Although shooting is not scheduled to start until 2004, pre-production has been underway for some time. The sets started being built at Hyderabad's Ramoji Film City midway ...
-
News
Celestial to launch 24-hour Chinese movie channel in March
Hong Kong's Celestial Pictures is set to roll out its 24-hour Chinese movie channel, Celestial Movies, in Malaysia and Brunei on March 3, with launches in other territories around the world to follow over the coming year. The channel will be carried on Malaysian satellite platform Astro, which is majority ...
-
News
Mukta Arts plans $18m Indian film school
Mumbai-based film Production Company Mukta Arts is launching a film school named Whistling Woods International. "Today most of us in the industry are products of individual and instinctive talent without much professional training," Mukta Arts' Subhash Ghai told Screendaily. "We want to change that. If the Hindi film industry needs ...
-
News
Kim Ballard joins UK's Random Harvest
Former FilmFour finance director Kim Ballard has joined UK tax-driven financier and producer Random Harvest as director of production finance. Ballard will oversee raising finance to complement Random Harvest's existing tax-based funds under the UK's Section 48 and EIS mechanisms. Random Harvest is adapting Phil Stoole's acclaimed short Schneider's 2nd ...
-
News
Kim Basinger boards John Irving adaptation
Kim Basinger, last seen as Eminem's mother in Curtis Hanson's 8 Mile, has joined Jeff Bridges in the cast of Door In The Floor, Focus Features' film adaptation of John Irving's A Widow For One Year. Tod Williams (The Adventures Of Sebastian Cole) has adapted the novel for the screen ...
-
News
Lions Gate goes trucking with Monsterman
Lions Gate has pre-bought all domestic rights to Michael Davis' Monsterman, an upcoming road picture that centres on a pair of college friends en route to a wedding who realise they are being pursued by a monster in a truck. The project, which is currently in pre-production, will star Eric ...